Two of these things are not like the other...

There is a small, local, free paper that is distributed throughout the Sheboygan County lakeshore area.  It's a cute little paper that usually has a lot of ads for interesting, local small businesses that can't afford the advertising rates of the Sheboygan Press.  It also has an excellent calendar of local events.  I generally try to remember to read it when it comes out every week.

This week as I was paging through I saw a full-page ad that really annoyed me... 

My issues with this ridiculous ad start with the fact that, as I titled this post...two of these things are NOT like the other.  One can EITHER put "God" and "the Ten Commandments" into government (there's no "BACK" here...they've always been excluded) OR one can put the Constitution "back in government" (I was unaware it had LEFT).  Personally...I choose to reverently KEEP the Constitution in government which means keeping it the way it is; absent "god" and codes of ethics handed down thousands of years ago from nomadic tribes living in what is still one of the most barbaric regions on the globe to this day.

The other serious issue I have with the ad is that the tiny little print in the lower left says (in barely legible type) "Paid for by Smthof Manor".  Now...I did NOT just make a typo..."Smthof" (which is NOT a word, nor is it in all caps implying an acronym).  Perhaps the Beacon made a typo though, I haven't been able to reach anyone at the Beacon to inquire, they seem to not answer the phones at their offices.  However, a web search for "Smthof Manor" finds NOTHING.  The "group" that paid for this full-page ad in the Beacon has absolutely no way to trace them to anything, or anyone.  Sort of like the other innocuous sounding "groups" like "American Crossroads", the "American Future Fund", "Americans for Prosperity" and other so-called "Super PACs" that are currently pumping millions into every race across the country.

Though there are still 11 days left before the election and the figures are therefore incomplete, it is clear that many millions more have been spent by special interest groups in this election cycle than in the 2006 midterms.  Thanks to the recent Supreme Court ruling that now allows the sources to not be disclosed, this year only 45% of sources have been named compared to 90% in 2006 according to the Washington Post.  This provides demonstrative proof as to who was being honest back at the State of the Union address when President Obama predicted that this is what would happen and Chief Justice Roberts shook his head, arrogantly pursed his lips and said "That's not true."  Well...clearly it WAS true Mr. Chief Justice, and you're either a liar or were just wrong...which is it? 

At any rate, contrary to what the folks at "Smthof Manor" (whomever they may be) believe, neither "god" nor "the 10 commandments" were EVER part of the Constitution, and never will be as long as we KEEP the Constitution in our government. 

I wish that I had the money to be able to run a full page ad of my own in next week's issue of The Beacon.  It would simply say: 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" 

Paid for by an American

But I really don't think that they'd get the point because as much as this anonymous "group" with the nonsensical name would obviously like it otherwise, they can't have their "god" and middle-eastern moral codes in the document that contains that passage, because two of those things are not like the other.